Saturday, June 19, 2010

Our Big, Fat, Greek Vacation

Phil and I have just returned from a week on the island of Crete. We had booked this trip in February and could not wait to enjoy Greece with three other couples. We had booked an all inclusive resort at an Iberostar hotel. I highly recommend considering this hotel chain when traveling (they are all over the place). It is hard to go wrong with a resort that has Zorro (Antonino Banderas) as their spokes person.They have animators, which are people that set up games and activites for everyone to take part in each day. This was a lot of fun since everyone in our group was interested in taking part in the games and shows that were provided. The resort was also quite large and located in the town of Panorama just a 15 minute drive from Rethymnon. Here is an overhead view of where we stayed.

It was nice to be able to leave behind cloudy, cold weather and be greeted with sun and temperatures that ranged between 80' and 100'. We spent the first several days swimming in the nearby coves, exploring caves, playing a lot of pool volleyball and laying out. It was so relaxing! On the fourth day we decided to explore the island of Crete on scooters. This was a lot of fun but also a little scary. The roads where very narrow and drivers in Greece are known for driving on the shoulder and inches away from other motorists.

Our last several days in Greece were filled with watching the World Cup, celebrating our 2 year anniversary and exploring more of the island. Being in Greece during the World Cup was a treat. The resort had set up several rooms with large screens so that the guests could watch each game together. It is quite an experience to be able to watch each game in a room filled with people living in each country that was represented on the screen. Talk about die hard fans! It was especially enjoyable to watch the US vs. England game. We were the only Americans in a room full of painted Englishmen. It was great fun and we were able to meet a lot of really interesting people. We also celebrated our anniversary at a seafood restaurant in Rethymnon. We all agreed that it was the best seafood that we had ever tasted. At the end of our meal we were serenaded by an eight year old boy who sang Greecian love songs and played the accordian. This will be hard to top.

Here are several pictures from our trip....

Swimming in the various coves.Exploring the caves on the island.

Our anniversary dinner (the huge prawns).Exploring the ruins.

Dinners by sunset.

Our last night. After an incredible week we gathered on the roof after dinner to watch the fireworks.

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About Us

We were loving life in Charlotte, NC when we were approached with the opportunity to move to Germany for work. We are now starting our adventure in Erlangen, Germany. We can not wait to explore Germany, learn the language and travel throughout Europe. We are viewing this adventure as an amazing gift and want to share it with our friends and family.

A shout out to Charlotte

When you leave home for an extended period of time you begin to think about all the things that you miss and appreciate back home. Phil and I are so blessed to have loving and supportive friends and family. It makes such a difference to receive emails and facebook messages from loved ones while we are so far from home. We wanted to remind our friends in Charlotte in particular of how much we appreciate and love them.

You all do such a great job celebrating each others accomplishments and supporting one another when needed. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives and look forward to see you all either here in Germany or back home when we visit. Thank you for the impact you have had on us. We look forward to future trips and adventures with you guys.